Improvement in fire-arms



T H. BARLOW.

Rifling Ordnance. No. 12,230. Patented Jan. 16, 1855.

N- PETERS. PHOTO-LITHGGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D c.

TATES PAT NT rion.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,230, dated January 16,1855.

. over a smoothbored gun.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

In order to produce the effect as above mentioned, instead of the round smooth chamber, I make the chamber square, or nearly so, winding from breech to muzzle, like an ordinary rilie. This may be done in different modes; but the most effectual is as follows: I first construct an iron mandrel in the shape and form of the intended chamber, winding from end to end, as the grooves of a rifle-gun. On the sides of this mandrel I fit sheets of rolled iron of a suitable thickness,which meet at the corners, where they are dovetailed and riveted. The mandrel is then extracted from the iron covering, which covering, when one end thereof is closed with iron of the same kind and in the same mode as. the sides, oonstitutes the core and inner surface of the cannon. This core is then to be cleansed from all impurities on the outer surfacesuch as rust,

- &c.and a solution of borax or some other suitable material is to be applied to the outside, and the inside is to be filled with charcoal or some other suitable article rammed tight. It is then ready to be inserted in the center of the mold for the cannon, which mold is to be constructed in the usual mode. The metal, whetheriron or brass, when let in upon it, will adhere firmly to the core, as if it were one mass, while at the same time the core is rendered harder by the operation of the charcoal, and made similar-to steel. will then be extracted, the muzzle will be trimmed, and the touch-hole drilled,when the gun will be ready for use.

The chamber may be made of the same form as that above described in a different mode, as follows: Cast and bore out the cannon in the usual manner, and then cut the chamber square and winding by the riding process.

The projectile to be used with this cannon will be made conformable in size and shape to the chamber, will be either solid or hollow, will be elongated and pointed, and if hollow may be charged with either gun or percussion powder in any of the modes suitable to hollow shotwhich explode either by. fuse or by percussion. I

In the annexed drawings, A represents a side view of a cannon, B an end view of the muzzle, made nearly square, and O the proj ectile or shot, as above described.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1 Constructing the chamber of the cannon nearly square and winding, so as to give the projectile the motion and accuracy of the rifleball.

.THOS. H. BARLOW.

Witnesses:

J. M. MOOALLA, '1. E. Coons.

The charcoal 

